


Vigil

by Medie



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Voyager
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-02
Updated: 2010-04-02
Packaged: 2017-10-08 15:26:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/77050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even for a Vulcan, the disappearance of a spouse is a most difficult experience</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vigil

**Author's Note:**

> written for 6beforelunch who wrote a lovely sequel [here](http://6beforelunch.livejournal.com/46571.html)

The silence which accompanied her had long since become a familiar companion. T'Pel saw no logic in attempting to delude herself it was not so. Those around her lacked sufficient understanding to truly comprehend the path she now walked but she would not fault their incomprehension. They were not to blame for their inability to see as she did. What they believed to faith, she knew to be confidence whether she could offer substantive evidence to support it or not. Her mate lived still and she would honour the truth and the inability to believe so until such time as his ship returned safe to prove thus to be fact.

Vulcan women did not gossip as some outworlders did, they shared quiet murmurs of concern and truth among themselves. T'Pel was aware she was among those discussions and tolerated, if not welcomed their concern. The knowledge of what they were doing reached a part of herself that she did not permit others, save Tuvok, to see. Their concern she respected, however little it was needed. She suffered no debilitation nor degradation in the quality of her work, nothing suffered for her belief in Tuvok's survival save her relationships with those who did not believe. She treated them as she always did in most fashions however, she did cease to share any further conjecture on Tuvok's condition with them. The scant knowledge that she held within her from the bond she shared with her husband, the faint sense of connection to him that remained, she shared with no one.

Until Voyager's disappearance, T'Pel and her husband had enjoyed a quiet life in what outworlders would have considered obscurity. Both were respected in their fields of work but they were not legendary, nor known to all Vulcan or even a fraction of the Federation. With his, and the ship's, disappearance that changed and she learned to grow accustomed to seeing the name of her mate mentioned in the same news reports as some of Vulcan's most prominent citizens. Eventually, even that became commonplace but she was still unprepared for the day the Lady Saavik came to her door.

All Vulcan knew who Saavik was, legend for her career in Starfleet as much as her marriage, but few ever saw her in person. Thus, T'Pel knew she could be forgiven a moment of shock when the wife of Spock appeared, in civilian garb, at her door.

"Lady," she inclined her head in greeting while considering whether or not the traditional customs of welcome should be applied. In times past, it would be considered an insult not to but Saavik and Spock had never seemed to be those who would cling to such tradition. "I welcome thee..."

Saavik inclined her head in response and allowed T'Pel to escort her into the modest courtyard of her home. "I apologize if I have come at an inappropriate time," she said solicitously, offering no encouragement to begin any of the old rituals.

"You have not," she assured, noting the movement of Saavik's escort to take position outside the door. In many centuries past, such a guard would have been necessary protection against enemies of the family, now it was purely a ceremonial action. The only threats to Lady Saavik's person now came from the enemies of Starfleet itself. "It is an honour to welcome you into my home. May I offer refreshment?"

"Please," Saavik agreed, following her inside as though they were in the custom of speaking regularly. "It would be logical to assume you are curious as to the reason for my visit."

"I have indeed been wondering," T'Pel filled two glasses with Saya and presented one to her guest before escorting her to a sitting area. "Were I to make an assumption, I would believe that it is in relation to my husband."

Seating herself, Saavik regarded her with a look that was almost one of compassion in the same fashion that T'Pel had observed her friends and acquaintances use but with one notable difference.

Belief.

"In recent months I have been on Vulcan to deal with personal matters of Family," Saavik began in explanation, "as such, I have been receiving only weekly status reports on the search for your husband's vessel, it is not as much information as I would have liked but a recent conversation with my daughter reminded me of something I had overlooked. To my regret, I had not considered speaking with you personally on these matters." She looked somewhat embarrassed by this, as much as any Vulcan could, and T'Pel experienced a moment of surprise. "Even for a Vulcan, the disappearance of a spouse is a most difficult experience. In truth, it may perhaps be even more so for Vulcans."

Silently considering the subtle acknowledgment that, Lady Saavik too, believed Tuvok to be alive, T'Pel inclined her head in a nod. "Quite," she acknowledged the support softly, responding with gratitude in the same fashion. "I confess, Lady, you are correct in this. It has been especially difficult." She lifted her head to meet the other woman's eyes. "Such separations are never easy to endure."

It had been known, for some time, that years before the Dominion War, the Lady's husband had withdrawn from public life. Indeed, had all but disappeared from society in general, rumored to have departed Vulcan for an unknown purpose on Romulus. Many had speculated on Spock's reasons for them but the Family had remained silent and Saavik, herself, had continued to conduct her affairs as before. Calmly ignoring the speculation flying fast and furious in the Federation, and on Vulcan itself, as to precisely what Spock was doing. In the years since, no explanation had been offered and she did not seem inclined to concern herself with offering one.

In its way, the situation had not been so different from the one T'Pel found herself in. Cause for speculation differed but the speculation itself did not.

"No," Saavik agreed, lifting her glass to her lips. She tasted the drink and savored it a moment before continuing on with her statement. "No, they are not and, perhaps, in this, I may be of assistance to you and your family."

Although the wording of the offer was innocuous, the impact of it and the import it carried was not. In one simple sentence, T'Pel knew she had been offered the support of not just Saavik, herself, but of her husband and his family. It carried with it a host of implications that were best contemplated within the privacy of her evening meditations. One thing, however, had become quite certain.

Silence was no longer her companion in her wait.


End file.
